Monday, June 22, 2015

So much for terse denials. Former world number one mobile maker Nokia, which sold its
device making unit to Microsoft last year, is indeed intending to get
back into the mobile game next year — when a Microsoft contract
clause that currently prevents it from putting its brand name on
handsets lapses.
Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri told Germany’s Manager Magazin the company
intends to design and license handsets next year, and will “look for
suitable partners” (via Reuters). “We would simply design them and then make the brand name available to license,” he added.
This is not in the least surprising. Even as it looks to slough off its Here maps business, Nokia has been keeping its hand in the mobile business, designing and selling an Android tablet in China, and launching its own Android launcher last summer.
Meanwhile Microsoft looks to be retreating from smartphones — or rather phone buyers continue to retreat from its Windows-powered Lumias.
Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who had been heading up
Microsoft’s devices division — after being reabsorbed by Redmond last
year, as part of the Nokia handset purchase — was this week shown the door.
How the tech pendulum swings.
It’s worth reiterating that any Nokia-branded phones that will appear
from 2016 will not actually be made by Nokia. It’s a far smaller
company than it was, prior to the Windows Phone years. But the Nokia
brand still holds plenty of cachet in various markets — in both Europe
and beyond — so Suri is clearly hoping to capitalize on that brand
visibility to power a new Nokia mobile push.

Was he timing his confirmation of Nokia-branded mobiles in 2016 to
coincide with Microsoft hanging up on Elop? We can but speculate…
Nokia has not confirmed what OS(es) might power any future
Nokia-branded phones, but it’s a pretty safe bet it’s going to be
Android. Nokia’s N1 tablet (pictured at the top of this post) runs
Android, and its Z Launcher is designed for Android, so Android is the
platform it’s been preoccupied with of late. Google’s mobile OS is also
where the mobile volume is, although the space has also never been more
competitive. Just ask HTC.
Nokia-branded Android phones would be lining up to compete with
megabrands like Samsung with huge marketing budgets and the resources to
flood the market with handsets at every price point, and fast-paced
upstarts like China’s Xiaomi, which uses various manufacturing and
business model strategies to squeeze the end-user price-tag — competing
on affordability plus quality. Add to that, the challenge
of differentiating on Android continues to cause headaches for OEMs.
Hence HTC trying quirky.
Still, ultimately, given this will be a licensing business it’s
Nokia’s partners — should it secure any (and presumably it has some
lined up or Suri wouldn’t be making any public pronouncements) — who
will be the ones paying it to compete.

Foxconn is presumably a likely candidate, given the pair are already
working together on the N1. I for one would wager that a Nokia-branded
Android phone — of a similar minimalist, Apple-esque hardware calibre as
Foxconn served up for the N1 — would sell like hotcakes in Europe. And
outsell sales of Windows-powered Lumias without breaking a sweat.